PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — The markets of this chaotic city are usually cacophonous places, alive with the din of motorcycle rickshaws and legions of Pakistanis sizing up the pyramids of mangoes in one stall, office furniture in the next.
But on a recent dusky evening at Sadar market, shopkeepers sipped tea and looked out into an empty street. No one, they fretted, wants to risk being there the next time a suicide bomber strikes.
"Almost every shop here is empty," said Nisar Ahmed, 35, manager of a small clothing store in the bazaar. "No customers come. There are days when we just close early and go to sleep. We can't sustain this."
Pakistan's bid to subdue the Taliban has unleashed a wave of retaliatory suicide bombings in several major cities, from Islamabad, the capital, to the country's cultural center, Lahore.
No city, however, has been hit as hard as Peshawar, a metropolis of nearly 3 million just outside the Taliban-infested northwestern tribal areas. In recent weeks, suicide bombings have targeted crowded bazaars, police checkpoints, a movie theater and a heavily guarded luxury hotel frequented by Western diplomats and other foreigners.
Zahid Ullah Shinwari, the owner of a plastic sheeting factory and a PVC pipe plant not far from Peshawar, said he had been trying in vain for weeks to sell his businesses and move his family to safer ground.
"Who will invest in an area where everyone is fleeing?" said Shinwari, seated in a posh Peshawar office decorated with white laminate furniture and a large painting of a moose behind his desk. "But when you fear for your life, you can't think about business. There's only one thing on my mind right now, and that's how to save myself, how to sell my assets and find a safer place to live."
An early-evening drive shows just how rattled this city is. Restaurants once teeming with Peshawar's middle class are largely empty. There's not a soul in sight at Funland, a large family park with a Ferris wheel, bumper cars and other amusement rides that's a favorite with families.
"Cultural life has come to a standstill," said Behroz Khan, Peshawar bureau chief for the Geo TV network. "People don't go to restaurants anymore. They don't go to neighborhood festivals. People just stay indoors now."
The bombing last month of the Pearl Continental Hotel, which killed 11 people, appeared to be a last straw for many here. The hotel was seen as an oasis of security. Diplomats and dignitaries stayed there, and businesspeople often dined in its restaurant or used its health club.
